“ ‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God! “ ‘I’ll pull you out of that stinking pollution. . .”

“We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends. I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don’t in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very “nature” is to die, so how could they “naturally” end up in the Life kingdom? But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life!Who got the last word, oh, Death?Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort."

“And when He [Jesus] had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him.And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones . . . Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.” -Mark 5:1-5, 15, NKJV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” –Jesus, Matthew 23: 27-28, NKJV

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” –Jesus, John 14:6, NKJV

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” –Jesus, John 3:16-17, MSG

“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?” – Jesus, John 11: 25-26, MSG

“And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors.” - 1 Corinthians 15:14, MSG

“But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.” – 1 Corinthians 15:20, MSG

﻿ “He is not here, but is risen!”-Luke 24:6, NKJV

“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.”-John 14:25-27

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About Robbie

Robbie Pruitt is a youth minister in Alexandria, Virginia. Robbie loves Jesus, family, ministry, the great outdoors, writing poetry and writing about theology, discipleship and leadership. He has been in ministry more than twenty years and graduated from Columbia International University and Trinity School for Ministry.

Every Day Poems

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A Prayer For Artists

"O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." (Book of Common Prayer, p. 818)

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All poetry, text, photos, graphics, artwork and other material on this site are copyrighted by Robbie Pruitt, unless otherwise stated, and may not be copied, published, broadcast, rewritten, sold, used, or redistributed without permission.

This material shall not be published, rewritten, reused, or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. None of these materials or any portion thereof may be printed, stored in a computer, or other storage device for personal, commercial, or non-commercial use. This material cannot be used in whole or in any part without written permission, except for brief review or commentary.

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The views expressed on this website are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Christ the King.